Blue skies
by placidducks
Summary: Life carries many lessons and Arina learns one the hard way:being involved with ninjas is a lot of blood, sweat and tears (literally!) oc insert, rated for lack of awareness of the future (language, fighting/gore or possible lemons etc.)
1. Prologue

Laying on her back, Lana squinted her eyes up to the light that pierced through the gaps in the leaves and branches of the trees that towered above her.

Her eyes watered slightly from the brightness of the midday sun but she didn't mind.

The shrills of cicadas and the drum of her own heart seemed almost as loud as the shouts and rattling fire of weaponry.

Her skin burned under the relentless heat of the summer.

Her breathing slowed as she began to relax more, it had been a stressful day after all.

A fly landed on her eyebrow, scuttling round her cheek and exploring the incline of her nose before buzzing someplace else.

The first thought that came to her was that back home her mum would be cooking lunch, her dad would probably be reading the paper and her dog Pippen would be bounding about waiting to be walked.

Thinking of home made everything seem far away and she felt calm. Looking at the sun she smiled.

She thought of everything that was and what would have been.

She remembered the ring on her left hand and and laughed at the cruelty of it all. She couldn't help but cry, not of sadness but of the overwhelmingness of it all.

That is how she died.

When her eyes reopened the sun was gone.

She wasn't where she remembered, or at least she thought she wasn't.

Looking down she was in fetal position and her naked skin looked shiny and oddly new.

Since it was night time the streets were mostly empty.

She pushed herself to her feet before tumbling over again, almost like her limbs had never before been used. She tried again and took shaky steps to the end of the alleyway she was in.

Her mind hurt with the tingling of confusion. Memories tugged at her brain but were just out of her reach. She couldn't remember who she was and seemed only to have the experience of a baby.

She could hear the far away voices but none if the words made sense. She continued down the wide street until she came across the building where the voices came from.

Intrigued she pushed the doors open, the murmuring stopped as soon as she stepped through the doors. Some people just stared, their mouths open and eyes wide.

Some whispered to each other, some laughed and pointed.

She didn't know what they were saying or what made her any different from them but suddenly she felt extremely embarrassed.

Her face turned red and her eyes watered up. She spun round, running from the bar leaving the hollering and shouts behind.

She ran until her legs burned, they weren't used to being used at all. She refused to stop and soon came across a stretch of woods, she ran through the trees trusting her gut feeling to Guide her through the dark woods.

It wasn't long before her leg caught on a branch and she crashed onto the forest floor. Raising her hand to above her face, a drop of red liquid dripped onto the crease of her eyelid and her hand stung around the red watery line.

Her vision focused behind her hand, the moon light shining through the cracks in the tree line and the quiet sounds of insects stirred something inside of her.

Her breathing became quicker and her face screwed up as tears ran down her face. She began gasping and sobs racked her body, her fingers digging into the dirt.

She didn't understand why she had once felt so much pain at a similar sight but it terrified her. She didn't like this place.

Not at all.

A/N:

It'll get better. Promise? *holds out pinky*

I guess I have quiet a lot of ideas for this.

So far we have a soldier, Lana, losing her life (more may be discovered *spooky ghost noises*) then she wakes up with no memories of herself of how to act as a person (poor naked Lana)

how will she react in a word where nothing makes sense?

I may as we'll mention now that I will only continue to post this online if I think there's anyone out there enjoying it, and if anyone has suggestions or ideas about what they would like to see, just drop me a comment/message!

I'm hoping this will be a fairly long story with an eventual pairing.


	2. Learn your A, B, Cs

The warmth of sheets wrapped around her body made the girl smile. She awoke in a white bed with white sheets in a room of white walls.

It almost burned her eyes and she felt distaste to whoever had made the room look like that.

She stayed there, looking out the window at the trees below, wondering what this place was.

Shizune came into the room, a smile adorning her face.

Kakashi had carried the naked woman into the hospital that night, explaining that what should have been a peaceful night at the bar with Yamato was interrupted by her bursting through the door before running off.

He had went to find her and came across her lying in the woods near the Hokage's office, sleeping.

Shizune had dressed the woman in the medical robes and given her a room close to the office so she would be quick to respond if anything happened.

Not that she wanted to dislike the girl, but she had raised some concern with the Hokage herself.

Kakashi had wondered off after she had been seen to so that he could report the happenings.

After downing a few glasses of Kami knows what, and rubbing her temples, tsunade told Kakashi that the information was not to leave the room before telling him to go home already.

She swore if it wasn't Naruto, it was Sasuke. And if it wasn't them, it was always something weird that she could live without.

Although she had pulled it right out and disintegrated the evidence, she swore that the job was giving her Grey hairs from the stress.

So when she came once again to check up on the mystery girl, it was a relief to see her finally awake. Maybe now she could answer some questions.

"How are you feeling?"

The girl blinked in confusion, she frowned and looked down.

Shizune was taken back, she couldn't tell if the girl didn't understand or was simply ignoring the question.

She tried again.

"I asked how you are feeling".

The girl still frowned at the floor.

"My name is shizune."

"Shizune" she repeated slower, pointing at her chest.

"Shizune?" The girl fumbled over the letters and pointed at her own chest.

The woman just sighed, looked upon the girl with pity.

She walked to the window and tapped the glass.

"Window."

She quickly walked up to the bed grabbing the bottom railing.

"Bed," her hand grabbed the bottom of the covers.

"Sheets."

Like this, she paced over the room pointing at things and naming them until she finally turned to the girl with a questioning look. She raised a finger towards her,

"and you?"

Again the girl fell silent and looked down.

Shizune suppressed a groan and understood it wasn't her fault. But work had to be done regardless.

She had to run the usual medical test to make sure nothing was amiss.

The girl sat on the side of the bed, her feet swinging over the edge and her eyes wondering around.

Shizune wheeled over a small table with all the equipment over to her side before getting started.

Realising this could be pretty difficult, Shizune mimicked what she wanted the girl to do until she understood.

No problems seemed to occur until half way through.

She had mimicked taking off a hospital gown until she eventually gave up, shedding the other girl of her clothes. It was something she had grown used to with the work she did. When she had spun the girl around to face her, she gasped and a hand flew to her face.

Her smooth flat stomach lacked any belly button.

Not knowing what was wrong the girl began to panic, backing up until she backed into the small medical table, causing it to fall and all the tools to clatter to the floor, letting out a yelp.

The woman stepped towards her shaking her hands in the air, shaking her head and talking gibberish.

The girl just stood and stared intently.

"It's o-okay" she repeated one of the many things she had heard come from the woman's mouth.

Shizune grinned, she felt they were finally getting somewhere.


	3. The Adventures of Jou The Jōnin

The quietness of the office would have been nice but the cloaked figure in the back gave her the chills.

The woman who sat behind the desk had motioned towards the seat. She then clicked out the office while calling something back to her, her heels echoing away, and left the girl alone.

Her eyes flickered back to the figure at the back of the room. She didn't know what it was.

I had some form of strange face, coloured in red and white.

She then began to wonder why there was so much white in this place, all they seemed to do was make it look duller than it had to be.

Still looking at the thing, she realised that it didn't seem to move.

Rising from her seat, she slowly approached it and stood face to face (well more like face to chest due to her small size) with the strange thing.

Her hand reached out to poke its face to see if it was alive when before she could blink, it had captured her wrist in its large, gloved hand.

She audibly inhaled and snatched her wrist back.

The thing simply pointed back to seat and snapped something at her.

Gingerly she slumped back and threw herself into the chair.

Nobody was any fun around here.

She pulled at the collar of the itchy jumper she was in (she had been given a pair of panties, general size training bra, trousers that had to be folded up at the bottom and secured with a hair tie at the waist and an oversized scratchy jumper which she had taken an instant dislike to) and sighed.

When Tsunade returned, she found the girl where she was left so presumed there was no hassles while she was gone.

She sat back down at the seat and eyed up the girl in front of her.

It didn't take long for Shizune to make an appearance and Kakashi arrived soon after.

Turning towards the man, Shizune gave him a bright smile.

"On time for once, Hatake? I'm impressed."

He averted his eyes and Tsunade scoffed.

"Don't look too pleased, I told him this meeting was two hours ago."

Not that either had really expected anything different from the poor man who ran a hand through his hair and shrugged.

"Naruto got stuck down a well, you're lucky I got him out so quick."

Both woman rolled their eyes.

"So", Tsunade looked almost pained, "naked girl turns up, has no understanding of plain Japanese and doesn't even know her name. Further experience has shown that she lacks a belly button and everything in her body seems strangely new."

Yep. That pretty much covered it.

The girl just looked ahead. A sweet smile on her face.

"I think the best way to go about this is find her someone to live with, preferably you, Shizune. I trust you to care for her and I trust you to try to keep this in the dark for now. I will look into the best and quickest ways to teach her speech because we can't move forward while she doesn't even understand us. I will gift you will money to buy her clothes and necessities and we will create some fake details for her during the mean time. I want both of you to look out for her and please, keep her out of trouble."

Everyone slightly reddened at the memory of the bar.

Tsunade scribbled on blank document, then spared a glance at each face.

"Until we know her real name, she will go by the name Arina. She is 18 years old and is a family friend of Shizune so has came over to stay after the death of her father. Try to keep her from people until she is less...prominent and remember: We still don't know if she can be trusted."

A nod from both ended the conversation.

Shizune had left the girl on the couch, awkwardly handing her some kids books before giving a quick wave and disappearing out the door, closing it behind her, she Walked away but soon spun round and hobbled back to the door awkwardly.

She stuck her key in the door feeling slightly guilty.

'Just incase,' she told herself.

Arina flicked through the books, studying the alphabet books and word books, with the button controlled audio help.

She felt a fire of determination. She understood that these would help her understand.

She crossed her legs, sitting on the ground by the low table.

She opened the first book, eyes ablaze and face serious.

Shizune came through the door, bags up each arm, and used her foot to shut it behind her.

Her eyes scanned the room before landing on the figure of the other girl. She was hunched over a book and the rest were scattered around her.

Looking up to see Shizune had arrived, the girl offered a smile.

She picked the book up and held it out to the woman, asking for help.

Over the course of the next few weeks Shizune would help her study if she wasn't working.

Sometimes she would wake up during the night needing water and when she came into the living room, Arina would be sitting up in her couch bed with the lamp on reading them on her own.

Her lips would move silently as her eyes lay on the page, rapidly scanning each word.

Although she would try to convince the girl to put them down and go to sleep but she knew she was powerless when it came to this girl's willpower.

As much as she hated to admit it, we was deeply impressed. Sometimes Arina would go to the Hokage's office with a book in hand and open the door, going to the couch at the back and silently go over the book.

Tsunade didn't mind, if anything she found it rather endearing more than anything else.

After a while she began to notice how the books became more complicated. She had moved onto simple kids books with bold type and pictures adorning each page. Soon she moved onto ordinary books.

Apparently the fierce practice had paid off for one day when Arina had wandered into the office and sat on the couch.

She turned to look out the window.

"It's very sunny."

Tsunade's eyes bulged and her hand stopped scribbling.

She looked to the girl who still gazed out the window.

Her voice had been dreamy and distant. She spoke with confidence but remained gentle.

She turned towards Tsunade with a smile on her face.

"You are very pretty."

the woman smirked

'I could get used to this girl...'

"So..." She started, "you have learned a lot?"

The girl looked down and smiled.

"I tried very hard," she looked to the roof, "there's a lot to learn."

The Hokage hummed in agreement, studying the girl.

"Do you remember anything?"

"No." The girl frowned.

"They are there but I can't..."

"It's okay, take your time."

"Thank you."

"I think you caught on but we have you to do us a favour. Until we sort things out, I need you to do a bit of pretending. This," she handed her a sheet of paper, "is who you are in the mean time."

The girl looked down at the paper and nodded.

"Sure." Again she smiled.

She stood up to leave before spinning on her heals.

"Please. I'm so bored, can I go out into the streets and meet people?" Her look was pleading.

Tsunade thought for a moment before sighing.

"Make sure you remember that," she pointed to the paper, "and of course."

The girl gasped happily before running out the office.

She stared at her reflection, her black hair had been tied into a high ponytail and she wore the black issued trousers that had been poorly bandaged at the appropriate points (she had used the various pictures from 'The Adventure of Jou The Jōnin' as a reference) and wore a dark blue tshirt along with the black issued sandals. She picked up the Konoha headband that Shizune had brought her previously and tied it around her neck. She stared into her own eyes and repeated "my name is Arina, I am 18 years old and I moved from Tea country to stay with Shizune who was a family friend after my father passed away" she nodded once before grabbing the small purse of money and making her way outside.

A/N: things are starting to take off now, huh? And I think I'm going to add in any songs or things I read while writing or any things that I relate to the chapters.

I'll leave you to figure out if it has a connection *cackles*

Dreams - Leighton Meester


	4. Dora The-Ooooh Dango!

Since Shizune's apartment was close to the Hokage's tower, Arina hoped that if she became lost in the village, that it would prove to be a useful landmark.

She walked down the street, not being able to contain the smile that overcame her features.

It was hard for her to explain.

She felt a strange sense of freedom in this place.

She decided to take a left.

Most of the streets led through blocks of apartments although she suspected others may open up onto shops and diners.

She glanced up then froze, her jaw falling open, for various people either fought or hung clothes up on thin lines. She watched the way their bodies twisted and jerked towards each other.

It reminded her of a violent dance.

Well, bar the grunts and ungraceful sounds of effort they expelled.

One person walked past her, slowing glanced, laughing gently at her amazement.

Soon she realised that most people wore their headbands on their...well heads.

So, Arina decided to go with the flow and change hers too for now.

It bounced about a lot on her neck too anyway.

Soon she walked further down the path, noticing how beautiful the streets were.

They were surprisingly clean and there were pretty signs that suck out from building sides and lanterns stung over the paths.

She stopped in her tracks suddenly. An amazing smell evaded her nose.

She snapped her head to the right to see a man in similar shoes and trousers to her but wearing a strange green jacket walking the opposite way. In his hand he held a long thick paper tray that held strange looking food on wooden skewers. She quickly turned to watch him leave before running after him.

Running infront of him she came to a stop, holding her hands out in front of herself.

"That!" She pointed at the food.

"It smells amazing! I have to know what it is."

The man chuckled awkwardly.

"It's dango from the shop just down the corner." He turned to face where he had come from.

"Go down there, take a left, you will come to a street that goes right, it's right on that corner."

As soon as he had finished she had taken off in that direction.

Thinking again she stopped and turned to wave.

"Thank you!" Her voice was raised loud enough to carry to him.

The man awkwardly raised a hand and turned back to the way he was walking. He turned his head to see she was gone already.

Shaking his head, he once again chuckled.

She burst into the shop, startling some of the customers.

She wasted no time making her way to the till.

The man behind the counter approached her, a kind smile on his face.

"How much is it?"

"40 ryō for three skewers"

As quick as she could, she pulled the money of out the purse (Shizune had been extremely generous but Arina understood this was a one time thing) and almost threw it at the man.

he walked back to collect the food and handed it over to her.

She collected it and hurried over to a table, taking a seat and staring down at the snack.

Anko watched the other woman with amusement as she stuffed dango into her mouth, groaning with happiness. When The girl caught view of Anko's amused look, she swallowed, embarrassed and reddened.

Anko liked games and she decided to start a new one.

She wondered how uncomfortable she could make the other.

She intently studied her face.

The girl had intense green eyes, a thin and slightly turned up nose and thin lips.

The girl didn't have any freckles or spots (her skin seemed...kind of new) and although she had tried to tie her hair back, parts had fallen out and messily sat around her face and neck.

She seemed skinny.

'Well, not if she keeps eating dango like that' Anko though with a mean grin.

Surprisingly the girl just stared back, quirking an eyebrow.

Since Arina had been in the house for so long, she had spend most her time reading and had shown interest in the actions and thoughts of many characters. One she was trying to learn was to drop the feeling of embarrassment. She hated the way it felt and as the character had said:

"Who cares what others think, my life isn't their story."

Also she had met some really quirky, mysterious and daring characters who had sparked her interest.

Anko rose from her seat and took one next to the girl.

Her hand reached for one of her dango sticks but the other girl quickly defended her food with a pointy skewer. The two cackled loudly at their antics, causing a few other diners to look round but neither cared much for their opinion.

"So," Anko began, "just who might you be?"

"Hmm. Let me see." Arina gave her a look.

"I am either Arina the A: the highly acclaimed jōnin B: the far away princess of great lands or C: the nobody from another village"

Anko gave her a comically thoughtful face before starting.

"Well..." She picked up the girl's hand in her own, "your hands are far too soft and well kept to be a jōnin"

The thought had not even crossed her mind.

"And sorry to break the news 'princess' but I'm sure a real princess wouldn't be shoving dango into her mouth like that in a little store like this."

She let go of the girl's hand to raised her own to wipe crumbs from under the other's lips.

"Here's my problem, Arina. I can tell that you are definitely not a nobody. Not to me, anyway. So, my Warrior Princess, I guess we'll have to have a further talk about this some other time. For I am Anko, the real highly acclaimed jōnin who has shit to do!" She stood up , arm raised in the air and the other on her hip.

After that, she made her exit.

'Shit,' she thought, 'this girl was impossible to make uncomfortable.'

She smirked, she always had liked a challenge. I mean hey, she was kinda cute after all.

After the dango had been devoured, she set off again, walking through the streets until she came to a stretch of path through the woods.

Curiosity got the better of her and she started down the grassy path, occasionally having to pull herself over fallen trees or duck under broken branches until she came into a large grass clearing.

Feeling the heat beat down on her, she took a hair tie off of her wrist and tied her top higher, letter her pale stomach see the sun. It looked like it never had before.

Seeing three large shapes, she made her way towards them.

Suddenly she was sure she saw something move to her left.

She whipped around to be met with...nothing.

Eerie.

She changed her course to the line of trees to the left instead. Slowly she did her best to creep through the thick trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the animal responsible.

The sound of something cutting thought the air caused her to turn in time to see a kunai implant itself into the trunk of a tree and before she knew it she had been tackled to the ground by an orange blob.

As they fell through the air the last words she heard were

"I got you now, Sai bastard!"

Before they both connected with the ground

A/N: just wanted to say that if anyone is interested, when I pictured Arina, I saw her looking a bit like Effy from skins (without the makeup since she had yet to discover her style) I saw her as being naturally skinny and being pretty not not all the guys stopping to stare. Some would think she was pretty, some wouldn't. Just like any other normal person.

Jónsi - sticks & stones


End file.
